New York postpones Democratic primary amid coronavirus outbreak, the 11th state to do so

Voters cast ballots at an Upper East City polling station in New York City on Nov. 8th, 2016.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

New York’s presidential primary election will be pushed back from April 28 to June 23 as the coronavirus continues to infect more people in the state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday.

During a press briefing, Cuomo said he would issue an executive order to delay the vote, aligning it with the congressional and legislative primaries in New York.

“I don’t think it’s wise to be bringing a lot of people to one location to vote,” Cuomo said during the briefing.

New York joins 10 other states and Puerto Rico in opting to delay their presidential primary vote in order to control the coronavirus outbreak. Both Democratic contenders Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders have decided to cancel in-person events because of pandemic.

In New York, considered the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., cases of COVID-19 jumped to more than 52,000 people and deaths rose to at least 728, up by more than 200 in a day.

Cuomo also said individuals filing a New York tax return now have until July 15 to get their paperwork in, bringing the state’s tax due date in line with the newly extended deadline for federal tax returns.

“It’s bad news for the state of New York, there’s no revenue coming in until July 15,” Cuomo said on Saturday.

The coronavirus has infected at least 115,547 people in the U.S. and has killed 1,841, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.